1. Comparative approaches to Human
Rights studies

The vast domain of Human Rights can be studied
in various disciplines, from philosophy to law, from
geopolitics to history, but as well in social sciences and
international relations. Even though they might look like a
mixed bag when taken alltogether, these four books using
interdisciplinary approaches to Human Rights feature a
strong political contents and will therefore be reviewed in
this article. Each one seems like an excellent entry point
into the studying of Human Rights.

2. Bringing Human
Rights into a political science perspective

Because of its interdisciplinary
nature, many scholars in Human Rights studies feel a strong
presence of philosophy, ethics, and law in that field, and
therefore note a lack of the political dimensions. However,
in The Politics of Human Rights, Professor Andrew
Vincent (from the University of Sheffield) argues that
“an understanding of human rights must focus primarily
on politics and we should try if possible to avoid the overt
languages of morality and legality” (p. 1).
Furthermore, the author tries to avoid these non-political
dimensions and states “that there is no external
regulative moral or religious standards for human
rights” (p. 2). Each of the eight chapters explores a
specific dimension, owing much to political philosophy and
history, explaining how some concepts related to citizenship
and the civil state have changed since 18th
century, insisting on the historical importance of genocides.
For instance, in his chapter “From Genocide to Human
Rights”, Andrew Vincent notes that the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was signed just one
day after the signature of the UN Genocide Convention, in
1948 (p. 107). Hence, Vincent links these two important
events and discusses as well other mass killings during
20th century, citing Pol Pot’s Cambodia and
Milošević’s Serbia (p. 107). However,
Vincent does not mention namely the 1932-1933 Holodomor (the
infamous forced famine planned by the Stalin regime) in
Ukraine, although he considers broadly what he coins as
“Stalin’s Russia” in his partial
enumeration of genocides (p. 107).

Obviously, Vincent is well aware of the fact that
ideologies have created many conflicting visions and
distortions of Human Rights, especially since the Cold War
era, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
was released (p. 136). Past issues related to the inclusion
of social, economical, political rights are reviewed and
commented, referring to the writings of many political
scientists from Hannah Arendt to Raymond Geuss (p. 164).
Newer considerations such as cultural Rights, animal rights
(!), and even sustainable development (as defined in the
famous Brundtland Report) are included in the fourth
generation of Human Rights studies (p. 147). And Vincent does
not include everything and every topic in his Human Rights
scheme, reminding us that John Rawls did not consider poverty
and other social issues; he did not see “distributive
justice arising from international human rights and the law
of people” (p. 195). Vincent’s final thoughts
discuss the links between Human Rights and citizenship, the
nation, and identity.

Andrew Vincent successfully
reinserts Human Rights into a series of political concepts;
he sees the civil state as being “both subject and
object of Human Rights” (p. 158), adding that
“Human Rights are part of the configuration of the
civil state – understood politically” (p. 158).
The idea that rights are “established or accredited
ways of acting within an institutional or collective
setting” instead of being conceived as “external
valid claims” reappears here and there, introducing a
welcome sociological dimension (p. 183). The author is also
bringing in some ambiguous values such as loyalty and
patriotism in the last chapter on “Citizenship and
Human Rights“, arguing “that it is possible to
find a resolution to the relation between human rights and
loyalty or even patriotism (of sorts) to a civil state”
(p. 228).

In my view, The Politics of Human Rights
would fit graduate students who wish to explore the origins
of Human Rights within a social science perspective,
without the omnipresence of the ethical and juridical
dimensions (which are not totally absent from this book,
however). Of course, this is not to say that this book was
written against other disciplines; philosophers from
Hobbes, Hegel to Axel Honneth are aptly quoted all along
(p. 181). Perhaps Vincent’s book could have been
titled as well “The political philosophy of Human
Rights from an historical perspective”, which would
have been more accurate given its contents and approach
about how the initial idea of Human Rights evolved in past
centuries until today.

3. Mapping Human
Rights

Co-produced with Myriad Editions,
Andrew Fagan’s colourful Atlas of Human Rights
is an impressive mapping of the current and recent violations
of human rights in various places, with various thematical
sections dedicated to identity, legal restrictions, freedom
of expression, migration, discrimination, Women’s
rights, children’s rights. Like about any atlas in
geography or humanities, this useful book shows at about
every page countless maps using various colours comparing
countries and political regimes; but in this case, we get
basic notions and statistics related to political rights,
religious freedom, sexual freedom, discriminations, racism,
domestic violence, child soldiers, education, and many
others. Issues like the quality of life, which includes
access to clean water, are discussed (p. 24). Another series
of maps indicates the “non-ratifying countries”
for international United Nations’ conventions like the
1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (pp. 14-15).
The last chapters focus on Women’s rights and
children’s rights, with maps indicating the places
where women are denied voting rights or civil rights (p. 74).
However, the issue of the headscarf and the burqa are not
discussed here.

Fagan’s Atlas of Human
Rights is a very practical tool: clear for undergraduates
and instructive even for teachers and scholars. Apart from
maps, a useful series of thematic chronologies are included:
for example, a list of the 20th century Genocides
beginning with the Armenians victims of the Ottoman Turkey
(from 1914 to 1918), followed by the Holodomor in Ukraine
(1932-1933), the Chinese victims in the Nanjing Massacre by
the Japanese imperial army (1937), the Jews victims of Nazi
Germany, and others (pp. 48-49). However, in this last case,
I would have stated the dates 1933 to 1945 (instead of 1941
to 1945), since persecutions from the German state against
their Jewish citizens made victims from the year Hitler came
to power (p. 48). Elsewhere, the pages related to Freedom of
speech do not include language rights, for instance for many
French-Canadians who do not always get services in their
language in the Western part of their country, although
French is one of the two official languages in Canada (pp.
40-42). The fifth section also present the religious freedom
and related persecutions in the world, mainly in the
Middle-East and China, although there is a unexpected
negative remark against France because of its banning of
religious symbols in the government offices and public places
in order to respect the principle of
“laïcité” (pp. 62-63). But in this
case, the author does not present both sides of this
debate.

Among many excellent figures, the
pages locating oppressed minority groups and racism in the
world are excellent because they present the violations of
minority rights in various ways and in different countries
(pp. 64-67). In the final section (pp. 98-113), we find a
series of one-paragraph profiles about human rights issues in
over one hundred countries, presented in alphabetical order,
including many lesser-known states where human rights are
contested or denied: Honduras, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Saudi
Arabia, Swaziland, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, both Koreas, and
many others. Each state, even among “advanced
countries”, is getting here one paragraph of severe
criticism, often in a “leftist” tone. For
example, Sweden gets criticized here “for failing to
accept Eritrean asylum-seekers” (p. 110). It is not
clear, however, on which criteria the few targeted countries
have been selected in each category as tangible examples of
Human Rights violations.

Because it provides data for many countries in
a clear fashion, this unique Atlas of Human Rights
will instruct students from college to the doctoral levels,
and will serve as a basic source of statistics for
researchers in various domains. But this reference book
should not be seen as just an illustrated tool dedicated
only for undergraduates and geographers; it is rather a
very instructive resource for all levels in geopolitics,
history, and political science education. In fact, because
of its clear and straightforward style, this Atlas of
Human Rights could even serve as an overview or an
initiation to Human Rights Studies for undergraduates.

4. Human Rights
between politics and law

Despite its title focusing on
law, Sarah Joseph and Adam McBeth’s edited Research
Handbook on International Human Rights Law features an
impressive number of chapters related to political science.
About half of the 21 chapters in this impressive handbook
focus either on a political approach, theory, or present a
case study centred on a specific country (in many cases
Asia). Three examples can give a general idea. First, Chapter
5 on Non-Governmental Organisations’ activities show
how some NGOs can work with the private sector in new,
unpredicted forms of cooperation, especially in troubled
countries like Sudan and Myanmar for issues such as fair
labour and the avoidance of child labour (p. 129). Among
multinational companies doing positive partnerships with NGOs
are notably Exxon Mobil and Rio Tinto, partnering with
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and OXFAM (p.
129). Secondly, regarding governance, Chapter 13 focuses on
the needed reforms with the Council of Europe’s many
Conventions and especially its European Social Charter (p.
346). New issues and challenges do emerge: for example,
according to one source, it seems like European states such
as France will have to face more unpredicted obligations
towards illegal immigrants for their children’s
healthcare in the French territory, despite their non-legal
status (p. 351).

Focusing on international
relations, Chapters 16 to 21 are perhaps among the most
interesting for political scientists and educators, with the
final pages discussing a possible definition of Human Rights
Education, understood as “training and information
aiming at building a universal culture of Human Rights
through the sharing of knowledge, imparting of skills and
moulding of attitudes” (p. 548). This detailed and
comprehensive definition of Human Rights Education was penned
in 2009 by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights (OHCHR) for the World Programme for Human
Rights Education. Many themes follow this definition,
including respect, fundamental freedoms, dignity,
understanding, tolerance, rule of law, the building of peace,
and finally “the promotion of people-centred
sustainable development and social justice” (p.
548).

Possibly among the most accurate
essays, Chapter 16 discusses the “Asian values cultural
debate”; as such, many Asian countries went through a
speedy transition from authoritarian regimes to democracy in
just a few decades; but despite these evident progresses, the
old practices remain, and “each of these systems has
continued to be plagued with the lingering residue of their
authoritarian past” (p. 417).

As with most handbooks, these chapters can
provide the recent trends and main topics in Human Rights
studies; graduate students considering doing a masters will
mostly benefit from consulting it, in almost any order. In
sum, despite its main focus on law, courts, and
prosecutions (which is not a bad thing per se), this
Research Handbook on International Human Rights Law
offers an important resource in political science and
International Relations that is rich in perspectives and
sources.

5. An Encyclopaedia for Human Rights

Last but certainly not least,
David Forsythe’s Encyclopedia of Human Rights is
an tremendous reference book and, given its price which
cannot be afforded by students, is an essential resource for
libraries in universities.

Taken together, all five volumes
gather more than 300 entries which rather look like detailed
chapters or thematic essays (between 5 and 12 pages) about
concepts, countries, persons, NGOs, groups, religions, plus
various conventions, charters and international treaties. The
perspectives and disciplinary approaches used in the chapters
are varied and often interdisciplinary, taking from
philosophy, history, politics, law, and International
Relations. This is a welcome contrast with so many reference
books in Human Rights that focus only on law, legislation,
and juridictions. Among many topics, one can read about
“African Union”, Armenians, “Film and Human
Rights”, “Right to Privacy”, Minority
Rights, Martin Luther King Jr., Tibet, and hundreds of
others. Beyond the obvious choices of entries, transversal
looks at Human Rights issues are often the most interesting
discussions in these pages. However, some sub-themes are not
present, as there is no entry as such about language rights,
although they are discussed elsewhere in the entry on
minorities. Although they are being mentioned here and there
in all five volumes, some countries like Canada and
Switzerland do not have a single entry on their own, but the
final index facilitates cross-reference and thematical
research.

Even though it is risky to
handpick just a few articles as a showcase, the core chapter
on “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”
illustrates how this encyclopaedia works: we get the general
context, the historical background, the first drafting, the
meanings, the challenges and the limits. The 1948
Declaration is clearly defined as “an embodiment
of universal freedoms and rights that establish norms for the
structuring of relationships between the political authority
and its subjects” (volume 5, p. 251). Here, Professor
Bård Andreassen writes that “Human Rights are
responses to societal threats to human freedom, welfare, and
dignity”, adding that the UDHR did not come out of the
blue in 1948: “the Declaration grew out of historical
experiences such as the Holocaust and other atrocities before
and during World War II” (p. 251).

An essential entry, the chapter
on “The History of Human Rights” indicates that
this particular approach “centers on the long struggle
to realize the worth of human beings in the face of
prejudice, discrimination, exploitation, oppression,
enslavement, persecution, torture, and extermination”
(volume 2, p. 394). And because Human Rights history is often
debated and contested, as are Human Rights initiatives, one
has to admit that “it is a history of controversy over
definitions, meanings, origins, applicability, and
methods” (volume 2, p. 394), hence this
Encyclopaedia.

A central topic in Human Rights
Studies, the excellent chapter on “Genocide” is
very instructive for its definitions and case studies related
to this term, created in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin. Even though
this entry admits that “The paradigm of modern
genocides is of course the Nazi Holocaust or Shoah, the
partially successful attempt to exterminate the Jews of
Europe”, we find as well three other cases of genocide
in 20th century presented here: first, “the
attack on Herero people by German colonialists” (in
1904) in what is known today as Namibia, then “the
massacres of the Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish regime in
1915”, and the more recent “attempted
extermination of Rwanda’s Tutsi population by racist
extremists in 1994” (volume 2, p. 294). Further on,
this rich entry insists on the fact that the “use of
the term ‘Genocide’ continues to provoke fierce
debate”, creating a nuance between
“Genocide” and “Crimes against
humanity”, which are similar but not synonymous (volume
2, p. 295).

The chapter on
“Colonialism” is representative of the structure
and progression used in this Encyclopedia. The entry
begins with some classifications and theoretical thoughts:
the need to observe three historical moments: the origins of
colonialism, the end of colonialism, and finally the
consequences of colonialism (volume 1, p. 361). The following
discussion presents a series of cases and illustrations (from
Congo to India), bringing core concepts such as the principle
of self-determination (p. 366). In Volume 4, we find a
similar balance of theory, definitions, and examples in the
chapter on “Reparation”, understood as the
“compensation for war damage owed by the
aggressor” (volume 4, p. 330). This awareness brings in
the mechanisms of a “right to remedy” (volume 4,
p. 331) and the need to consider “the victim’s
perspective” (volume 4, p. 338).

Some of the contributors of this
Encyclopedia can sometimes criticize Human Rights
advocates and world organisations, for instance in the
chapter on NATO, which argues that the NATO bombings against
Serb resistance in 1999 “resulted in an additional
human rights crisis, as the Serb military forvced nearly 1
million people out of their homes and into neighboring
Albania and Macedonia” (volume 4, p. 121). Obviously,
the most rewarding entries discuss an idea rather than just a
person or a country, for example this chapter on the
“Demise of Soviet Communism”, which highlights
the construction of an European identity around the idea of
human rights during the 1970s”, leading to create what
was coined by Daniel C. Thomas in 2001 as “The Helsinki
Effect”: a “diplomatic dialogue between the
Atlantic democracies and the Soviet bloc that encouraged
dissidents to adopt the language of Human Rights in their
confrontations with the authorities” (volume 4, p.
505). In other words, Human Rights gave an universal
legitimacy for opponents to the Soviet regime, from the 1970s
until the Gorbatchev years.

In sum, this immense Encyclopedia of Human
Rights is truly a tour de force achieved by
Professor David Forsythe’s group of contributors and
Oxford University Press. It won the 2010 “Dartmouth
Medal” given by the Reference and User Services
Association (RUSA) for “a reference work of
outstanding quality and significance”. This price was
well deserved. Most contributors avoid the easy temptation
to focus only on law, legislations, and courts, in order to
give a wider, interdisciplinary spectrum. It shall
obviously serve as a perfect entry point for any research
related to Human Rights Studies.

6. Conclusion

Research in Human Rights studies
is interdisciplinary in essence and often carries a strong
political dimension. Political scientists and sociologists
should be among the frontline scholars who give leadership
and directions to this continuously renewed field. All titles
except The Politics of Human Rights must be seen as
reference books, and therefore being essential for university
libraries.